Preparing For The End
by Lily Hanson
Summary: In the darkest times, families need to stick together.
1. Zenowing's Story

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Dino Charge. This story is fan-made._

Kendall felt badly for leaving the Shiba Home. She had promised to do all she could to help Serena recover then found herself making no progress in her research after a couple of days. There was only so long she could be away from Amber Beach, so she took extensive notes of Serena's condition, asked the Samurai to update her on any changes as soon as they occurred and set off with Chase.

"Think we'll ever have time to stop by their dojo in town?" Chase asked as they travelled the path suggested to them by Ally for how to get into Panorama City. There, they would take a bus back to Amber Beach. Ally had offered to drive them, but Kendall felt she had already inconvenienced them enough.

"If you ever find yourself with a bit of free time," Kendall nodded her head.

"So, after we save the world?"

"I guess, yeah."

"Do you think it might be worth taking a few classes before the threat of the end of the world?" Chase suggested with a little smirk. He had been fascinated by the Samurai and their in-house dojo and he had been lucky enough to get a few lessons from Lauren and Emily while they were there. He seemed to really enjoy himself, which was much more than Kendall could say about her visit. Her mind was still on Heckyl and still on the dark energem. If she couldn't figure it out soon, Serena may be the first of many to fall victim to the dark energem.

"You think way too much," Chase said, breaking Kendall out of her thoughts. She turned to him, looking curious.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, I love it," Chase said. "You see a problem and right away your mind starts thinking up ways to solve it. I guess what I meant is you worry too much. About everything."

"It's gotten us this far."

"And I appreciate that," Chase nodded. "But... you know it's not on you to figure this out. Not alone, at least."

"Then who?" Kendall asked. "No offense, Chase, but I've been studying the energems for..."

"Years now, I know," Chase chuckled. "I know you're the expert on them. Especially with Keeper gone but we can all help, you know. Serena's not hurt just because of you. And it's not just you who needs to find out how to help her. We're all in this."

Kendall gave a little nod and stopped walking. She looked to Chase and saw him smiling back. She knew he was right. The Rangers had helped her on more than one occasion, and they were willing to continue helping. And the more she let them help, the faster they reached a solution.

The problem wasn't that she thought she needed to do it all by herself. The problem was she didn't want to burden the Rangers with something so big.

"We're all part of this," Chase reminded her and held up his energem to show her. He continued to smile, "We'll figure out the dark energem together."

"I hope so," Kendall gave a little nod and started to walk again with Chase by her side. They just made it into the city when Kendall's cell phone rang. She checked the number first then looked to Chase with a frown. "It's Mr. Navarro."

"Tyler's dad?"

Kendall put the phone to her ear, "Mr. Navarro, to what do I owe this... call?"

" _You'll never believe what I discovered."_

"Anything good?" Kendall asked. She couldn't explain really why she felt bitter towards the Aqua Ranger beyond the fact that he vaguely reminded her of her own father. He had a perfectly good reason for why he walked out on Tyler and his mother ten years before, which was much more than she could say about her own dad. However, she was sure the part she hated about Mr. Navarro was that when he returned, when he knew he no longer needed to protect his son by hiding, he still chose to leave. Mr. Navarro thought the best thing he could do was search the planet for the silver Energem, and then later, find out why the silver energem suddenly appeared in a bush, instead of with a dinosaur fossil like all the others.

Meanwhile, Tyler needed his father. He spent most of his life wishing to see his dad again only to have him walk away. Tyler didn't seem too broken up about it anymore, but Kendall was bitter.

"You won't believe it. I'm at the museum. Meet us there."

-Dino-Charge-

When the elevator doors opened, Kendall immediately noticed the Dino Lab was packed. All six of her Rangers were down there, as well as James and Prince Phillip. For the first time, all ten energems were in one location. She felt a little sense of pride, knowing she had accomplished Keeper's goal for him. All the energems were in safe hands and they were reunited.

However, she also felt her heart stop, realizing all the energems, and their power, were in one location. Suddenly, it seemed like a fantastic idea to keep the Rangers spread out across the planet. If Snide or Archanon chose to attack right now, all the energems were in danger.

"Ms. Morgan! Chase, come see this," Riley called to them, waving them over to the center console, where James had projected the image of a bird-like creature for all the Rangers to see. He looked to Chase, then Kendall and pointed to the alien.

"This is Zenowing. He was a long-time friend of Keeper's."

"Never heard of him," Kendall stated.

"For good reason," James explained. "When you told me your brother found the silver energem, I thought it was much too convenient. So I knew I just had to keep digging. I needed to find out more."

"Mr. Navarro contacted me," Phillip explained. "He wanted to know if I had any resources that I could lend to him for some top secret exploration."

"One thing led to another and I found this," James held up a rather large book, printing in a foreign script. Kendall walked over to the book and tried to analyze a page, but couldn't get past what she assumed was the first word. She did recognize the writing, though. She had seen it before when she first meet Keeper.

"This is..."

"It's a journal," James said. "And it took me a while to decode it but I'm pretty sure about what I know. Keeper had a long time friend, an apprentice who was supposed to take over guarding the energems when Keeper got to be too old. Unfortunately, they lost the energems before that happened. It seems while Keeper remained on Earth, Zenowing searched the galaxy and tried to help in other ways."

"Such as?"

"Building the Zords," Phillip smirked.

"And how exactly did you find all this out?"

"Zandar has a small space exploration program," Phillip explained. "When James asked me for some help, I figured it might help to lend him a ship."

"You went to space?" Tyler asked, looking to his father in absolute awe. He was already thrilled his father seemed to be back. Now, he was starting to hear of his father's adventures; it was like a dream come true two-fold.

"Briefly," James smiled. "Zandar doesn't have anything that could allow us to cross the galaxy, but it turns out, Zenowing was able to make it to Mars before..."

"Before what?" Shelby asked.

"Lord Archanon arrived at the same time he did," James explained. "And that's all I know except that we found Zenowing's remains on Mars with this book. I think it's safe to say, he didn't make it."

"What else does this book tell us?" Kendall asked.

"Zenowing states he originally bonded with the Silver energem," James turned to Jeremy. "Apparently, he found the silver energem shortly after the mass extinction, just before he decided to help Keeper from afar."

"So when he died...?"

"I don't know what happens to energems when their host dies," James answered Jeremy with a little shrug. Kendall chimed in.

"The energem searches for a new host."

"But how would it get from Mars to here?" Shelby asked.

"Maybe Zenowing knew he was in a losing battle?" Riley suggested. "And maybe he thought it would be safer to send the energem to Earth and hope for the best than die with it in his hands."

"Just before I bonded with the Silver energem I did see something coming down from the sky," Jeremy nodded his head. "It's what dragged me out of bed."

"Great. So we know the story of the silver energem," Kendall said with a little shake of her head. "We also know there's someone else out there whose dead. Mr. Navarro, I don't mean to be rude but is there anything you discovered that may be able to help us out right now?"

"How about the dark energem?" James suggested. Kendall crossed her arms.

"What about it?"

"There's a whole chapter of this journal dedicated to it," James nodded. "Now, I have the translation guide, but in my own research I wasn't able to understand everything mentioned. I'm afraid I don't know enough about the energems to..."

"Let me see," Kendall said and took the translation guide from James and was almost immediately immersed in the book.


	2. The Right Call

Once Kendall deciphered the written language, she found herself flooded with information on the dark energem and its powers. However, scarier than the dark energem was the one who possessed it.

She didn't know much about Lord Archanon except that he seemed ruthless, perhaps worse than Snide and Sledge. In his hands, there was no telling what the dark energem could do, or how much pain it could cost.

She learned about Sentai 6; how Archanon had completely obliterated the planet all for the dark energem with his own powers. Now that the dark energem was his, Kendall had a feeling her existence right now was due to borrowed time. Archanon could have already destroyed the planet if he wanted to.

"There's got to be a way to stop him," she muttered.

"Our ten energems might be enough," Shelby said and caused Kendall to jump about a foot in the air. The purple Ranger turned around only to find Shelby with a cup of coffee in her hand, holding back a little laugh, "Whoops, sorry Ms. Morgan. I was sure you heard me coming."

"How long have I been..."

"Ms. Morganing?" Shelby smirked. "About three hours now. Learn anything?"

Shelby handed the coffee to Kendall, who nodded her head, "So much."

"Anything good?"

"Define good," Kendall sighed. "One of the most vicious monsters in the universe has possession of a stone that can, on command, bring doom to entire galaxies."

"And the ten energems?"

"Can match its power," Kendall said. "But only together."

"Good thing it's a Ranger reunion upstairs," Shelby said. "We closed down the cafe to throw a little welcome back party for Tyler's dad. You don't mind, do you?"

"I guess not," Kendall said. "The problem with fighting fire with fire isn't how strong the dark energem is. It's Archanon. If he can obtain even a single energem..."

"We won't have the power to counter the dark energem," Shelby nodded. "So the ten of us need to be just as powerful as Archanon."

"Archanon, Singe, Snide, Fury, Curio, Wrench, the Spikeballs, the viviks, all their monsters..."

"Wow, that's a lot. You didn't happen to create a new armour or something while you were down here, did you?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible. There's only so much power that a single weapon or armour can contain before it poses a serious risk to the user. You'd be more likely to take yourself or another Ranger out than one of the monsters."

"Have you at least found a way to help Serena, then?"

"I'm considering a charger that has the power of the ten energems in a micro dose," Kendall nodded her head. "It might function as an antidote."

"Well, that's a step forward, I guess."

"I just don't see how it's possible to stand up to Archanon and his entire army with just the ten of us. The risk is much too high."

"There's got to be some way, right?" Shelby asked, and at that very moment Kendall's computer alarm went off. Both rushed to the screen to see what was going on. Just as Shelby was about to call the boys down for their help, Kendall stopped her.

"I don't think this concerns us."

"Archanon, Singe and Snide are in the woods," Shelby said. Kendall nodded her head and projected the image from her computer into the center console, giving Shelby a 3D view of the map where Archanon and his crew were standing. Off in the distance, Shelby noticed more monsters were making their way over.

"Fury? Wrench? Curio? And... Poisandra?"

"I don't know how I feel about this," Kendall stated. Shelby looked to her with concern.

"Why do you say that?"

Suddenly, another icon appeared. One Shelby didn't recognize at first, but as soon as she did, her jaw dropped.

"Dammit! Sledge? If they team up?"

"I don't think that's the case?" Kendall stated, shaking her head and Shelby checked the monitors. The power level readings were high.

"Are they fighting?"

"Looks like it."

"Who are we rooting for?"

"Whoever we can beat," Kendall stated and watched with baited breath as the fight raged on.

"Should we call the others?" Shelby asked after a few moments.

"When there's something to tell them, we can let them know," Kendall said. "Until then, there's nothing we can do. They're away from the city and they're hurting each other. I'm afraid if we interfere, this could be worse."

"Maybe they'll just kill themselves and it'll be problem solved?" Shelby suggested with a little shrug. Kendall nodded her head.

"I guess we can hope."

-Dino-Charge-

The Fisher home hadn't felt normal in many years. Perhaps not since the day before Kendall went off to university. Since then, the Fisher home had either been one child short, or knowledge of the Rangers' identities plagued the peace Mr. and Mrs. Fisher craved. However, with Mr. Fisher cooking dinner, and Mrs. Fisher and Cammy working on homework, there was finally a small sense of normalcy.

So when the doorbell rang, that peace was easily threatened. Cammy seemed to be the only one who enjoyed the distraction from her work. Mr and Mrs. Fisher looked to each other with worry before Mr. Fisher made his way to the door.

"Tracey! Anna!" he called out, much to the relief of Mrs. Fisher, who jumped up from her seat to greet her daughter in-law and granddaughter, while Cammy jumped out of hers to see what all the fuss was about. When Anna was at the door, Cammy's face lit up.

"We're going to play in my room!" she told her parents, then helped Anna take her bag upstairs. Mrs. Fisher chuckled as she watched the girls go then turned to Tracey.

"I didn't think we'd see you again for... well, a while, I guess."

"I know," Tracey answered with a bit of a sigh. "I know we were asked to keep our distance but... It's starting to feel like it's really not worth it. Is Jeremy...?"

"He's not home," Mr. Fisher answered. "He moved into Kendall's place. He'll either be there or at the museum tonight. But you and Anna are certainly more than welcome to stay here."

"How long will you be here?" Mrs. Fisher asked.

"However long Jeremy will let us stay," Tracey said and looked a little nervous, "I... I quit my job."

"Tracey..."

"We'll be moving here after this Ranger stuff is over anyways and... I really meant it, living so far away from danger; it's really not worth it. I don't sleep because I'm always worried about Jeremy; Anna's been having nightmares and keeps asking when her dad will be coming back. It's just... I can't do it anymore. I can protect my daughter from here. If Cammy is safe..."

"Define safe," Mr. Fisher said then shook his head, "But you're right. We've managed to keep Cammy alive and well until now. If Anna misses her father then..."

"Is this stupid?" Tracey asked, looking to her in-laws with worry. "The whole flight over I kept thinking if something happens, at least Anna will get to be with her father again. If he were to be hurt or killed, at least she would have seen him one last time. But really..."

"Tracey, you're more than welcome to stay with us," Mrs. Fisher assured the worried mother with a smile. "And Anna will be taken care of. Both of you will be fine."

Tracey nodded her head and smiled. She knew this had to be for the best. The minute she left town with Anna and Jeremy stayed behind, she knew it was the wrong decision. It was safer, but being so far from Jeremy hurt.

"Jeremy is at the museum?"Tracey asked.

"Either there or at his place," Mr. Fisher said and pulled out his phone, "Try the museum first, otherwise I'll text the address. You remember your way around?"

"I'll find him," Tracey smiled and then called Anna down from Cammy's room.


	3. Family Reunion

Working for the Dino Bite Cafe meant it was easy to organize impromptu welcome home parties. It also meant that once the party was over and the cafe needed to be cleaned up, that someone was him.

Jeremy couldn't blame Tyler and James for going home without cleaning. They had plenty to catch up on. Chase was gone because Kendall had called him down for an errand, and he and Koda later left with a Dino Charger in their hand. They were driving out to Panorama City on Ranger duty; which was a little more important than a clean cafe.

That left Jeremy, Riley, Ivan and Prince Phillip to clean up the mess, which wouldn't have been too bad, except it seemed Ranger parties were especially messy.

"We're going to be here all night, aren't we?" the prince grumbled and picked up a dirty napkin with the tip of his finger and thumb. "Are you sure there isn't a maid or something we can hire to do this work?"

"Sorry, your highness," Riley shook his head. "It turns out, we're the hired help."

"I find this cleaning kind of relaxes me," Ivan stated, earning a few questionable looks from his friends. "What? I find it fascinating explore how the other classes lived."

"You've been exploring it for about a year now," Riley chuckled. "It doesn't get old?"

"Perhaps at times," Ivan agreed. Moments later, the Rangers could hear a pounding at the front doors of the museums. With a heavy sigh, Jeremy volunteered to answer it, thinking it was only some misguided museum guests hoping to be let in after hours. However, as he approached the front of the museum, he had to double take. Standing on the other side of the door was his wife and daughter.

His first instinct, after not seeing them for a few months, was to take them into his arms and never let go. Before he reached the door though, it crossed his mind that this could be a trap. He decided it was worth the risk, and raced to the doors to open it.

"Daddy!" Anna shouted and jumped into his arms. She wrapped her arms and legs around him tight and squeezed like she never wanted to let him go. Jeremy put one arm around her, kissed the side of her head and wrapped the other arm around Tracey.

"What are you...? How did you...? You're kidding me right now."

"It's no joke," Tracey smiled and kissed her husband. "Anna and I missed you so much, we just... we had to make the trip down."

"I'm glad you did," Jeremy said, "But it's still dangerous and..."

"We don't care," Tracey shook her head and looked to Anna, who was beaming from ear to ear. She knew she had made the right call. She just hoped it wouldn't be a Catch 22. "We weren't happy being so far away from you."

"It was scary," Anna admitted. Jeremy looked to his daughter and gave a little nod.

"I know. But you were so brave, sweetie."

"I missed you, daddy."

"I missed you too," Jeremy kissed her cheek and took Tracey's hand, leading her into the cafe, "Tracey, Anna, you remember Riley and Ivan."

"It's a pleasure," Ivan said with a smile.

"And this is Prince Phillip," Jeremy pointed to the graphite Ranger and almost instantly felt his daughter's breath in his ear.

"Is he a real Prince?"

"As real as they get," Jeremy nodded. Prince Phillip made his way over and greeted Tracey with a shake of the hand. Then he offered his hand to Anna, who shied away, hiding her face in her father's shoulder, peeking one eye out just to look. Jeremy held his daughter close as he chuckled, "Sorry. She's really into princesses so this is a bit of a dream come true for her."

"Understandable," Phillip smiled and leaned in a little closer to Anna, "You know, since you're a huge fan, I think maybe one day I can arrange for you to tour my family's castle."

"A real castle?" Anna asked.

"As real as they get," Phillip nodded. "Of course, a Zandarian castle is much smaller than the ones in your fantasy books. I do admit that. However, it is still a spectacular sight. And I am positive I can arrange for you to leave with your own crown.

"Really?" Anna's eyes widened, as did Tracey and Jeremy's. They both looked to the prince in disbelief. He smiled.

"We have plenty of replicas at the palace," he nodded. "They're worth no more than your... I believe you call them baseball caps?"

"So where is everyone else?" Tracey asked and looked around. She knew there were more Rangers than those who were in the cafe. In fact, her husband was the tenth, which meant they were about six short. Last she heard, all of the Rangers were still alive, but it had been a long day of packing, getting to the airport, flying down to Amber Beach and finally getting to the museum. Anything could have happened. Her stomach lurched just thinking about it.

"Chase and Koda are on an errand," Jeremy explained. "Tyler and his father went home for the night and Kendall and Shelby are downstairs."

"Can we go see them?" Anna asked and started to squirm in her father's arms. He set her down and took her hand while she pulled him towards the kitchen. Jeremy looked to the other three Rangers apologetically.

"You don't mind finishing up, do you?" his tone made it sound like a question, but the way he simply walked off left the prince, Ivan and Riley with no choice but to be okay with being left with Jeremy's share as well.

-Dino-Charge-

"Verdict?" Shelby asked, watching as the scanner reported that the life signs from Archanon and Singe were non-existent, proving their death at the hands of Sledge. Snide seemed to scrape by and given he seemed to be leaving the battlefield with Sledge and his army, Shelby could only assume and alliance had been formed. "Is this good or bad?" she looked to Kendall, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Archanon was a mystery," Kendall stated. "At the very least, with Sledge in control now, we know better what to expect from him. And this battle proves the one in possession of the dark energem isn't invincible."

"So we're happy with how it turned out?" Shelby asked. Kendall shook her head.

"Sledge has also proven he can survive being abandoned on an isolated planet and come back strong enough to destroy Archanon with the power of the dark energem," Kendall said. "That doesn't exactly slide things into our favour."

"Aunt Kendall!"

"It's Ms..." Kendall started, but paused when she realized no one, ever, called her Aunt Kendall. To her employees, she was Ms. Morgan. To her family, she was Kendall. The only person who would even want to call her Aunt Kendall would be her nieces or nephews, but as far as she was concerned, Anna was out of State.

At least, Kendall believed that until a small body rammed into her from behind and wrapped its two little arms around her. Kendall turned around and looked down, seeing Anna was holding her tight. She put her hand on Anna's head, then looked up to see Jeremy and Tracey walking into the lab.

"What is this?" she asked.

"Your niece," Jeremy teased his sister. "She's the same kind of human as Cammy."

"I know she's my niece," Kendall said. "I meant... what are they doing here?"

"Nice to see you too, Kendall," Tracey chuckled and hugged her sister in-law, while at the same time noticing the cast on Kendall's arm. "Is this from Heckyl?"

"It's almost healed," Kendall assured her. "You decided to visit?"

"I've decided to stay."

"Stay?" Kendall said and turned to Jeremy, wanting to see the look on his face. He had sent Tracey and Anna away for their protection. She doubted he would be thrilled to see they went against his wishes.

"Tracey..." he sighed and Kendall couldn't hear the rest of their argument because Anna had taken her hand and pulled her over to the center console.

"What's all this?" she asked. "Did you make this? It's so cool looking!"

"I did," Kendall answered as she glanced to Jeremy and Tracey. She saw their conversation was starting to get a little heated. Jeremy didn't seem happy at all to hear that Tracey had brought his daughter into a city that was under attack. Knowing Anna wouldn't like to see her parents fighting, Kendall had to keep her busy. She started to explain how the console worked, since Anna had already shown some interest in it, but when she was met with a blank stare from her niece and Shelby, she knew she needed to do something else.

Only she wasn't good with kids. Cammy was the exception, and she wasn't here to be a buffer. Even worse, she barely knew her niece. She didn't know what would keep the eight year old's attention long enough for her parents to sort out their disagreement. So she went to her default – the only thing that worked for her during Fossil Fun Day when a kid was hurt or angry. She hoped it would work on Anna now too.

"Ice-cream?" she suggested. Anna's eyes lit up and she nodded her head.

"Yeah!" she took her aunt by the hand and dragged her all the way upstairs. Shelby followed. She too had noticed that Tracey and Jeremy were in the middle of a conversation and didn't want to be left alone with them.


	4. The Super Weapon

Conflicting emotions were not easy to navigate, especially when the lives of the people he loved most were on the line.

Jeremy was thrilled to see Tracey and Anna again. He had underestimated just how hard it would be to live every day without them, and while video chats, emails and text messages could quench his thirst from time to time, it in no way filled the void in his heart.

However, missing them for a few months, maybe even a year, was much better than losing them for good. Jeremy wasn't even asleep and already he was plagued with nightmares of all the possible things that could happen to his wife or daughter while they were in town. He had never faced Sledge personally before, but according to the other Rangers, he was known as a brute. He wouldn't show mercy.

Jeremy peeled himself out of bed and made his way down to the kitchen. There, he found Kendall at the table, sipping on some coffee, reading over the notes she and Shelby had made during the day.

"You're still up?" he asked her, though he wasn't surprised to find her awake. She barely slept. He often wondered why she even bothered with owning a bed.

"The dark energem seems to be in Sledge's hands," Kendall nodded. "If I can figure out what he plans on doing with it, I can hopefully find a way to counter his attacks before it's too late. What about you?"

Seeing Jeremy reach for the beer in the fridge, Kendall had her answer. She put her tablet down and sighed.

"That's not going to make it easier."

"It's hard on me too," Jeremy said. "Tracey can't think that she's been having a harder time than I have. At least she had Anna. It's selfish."

"Jeremy..."

"No, it is," Jeremy frowned. "I mean, if she had left Anna with her parents and came down by herself, that would be one thing. But Anna's eight. She's just a kid. She's got no idea what she's getting herself into. She just knows she misses me. I'll bet, if she knew what was really going on..."

"I'm sure she understands it just as much as Cammy does. And I'm sure she still wants you around."

"But it's not safe."

"Maybe you should have considered that before choosing to be the silver Ranger," Kendall said. "I can't help but remind you, I warned you of this."

"The energem chose me. You said it yourself..."

"The energem chose you for your dedication – your sacrifice. If you had just gone home, like you said you did, it would have found someone else. Potentially, someone without a family. Tracey and Anna could have been safe."

"Are you blaming me?"

"A little bit," Kendall nodded her head then turned away when she saw the angered look on her brother's face. "I'm just saying, if keeping Anna and Tracey away from danger was really your top concern, you never would have wanted to be a Ranger in the first place."

"I wanted to be a Ranger to keep my family safe. To keep you safe."

"Jeremy, I'm not..."

"Are you saying I wanted this?"

Kendall sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. She could understand her brother's anger. It was already a concern for her having her parents and Cammy in town. And while she didn't know Tracey or Anna nearly as well as she wanted, she couldn't imagine being deprived of that opportunity. However, she found it hard to take her brother's concerns seriously when she had warned him of them prior to his involvement as a Ranger. She explicitly remembered warning him not to be a Ranger for Anna's sake.

"You are," Jeremy frowned when Kendall didn't respond. "Are you serious..."

"You were more concerned with my safety at the time."

"And was I wrong to worry?" Jeremy asked and pointed to Kendall's cast. Then he crossed his arms, "And in case you didn't forget, my becoming the silver got Heckyl to stop beating the shit out of you that time he took over Chase's mind. If I hadn't showed up..."

"And that's what you chose, Jeremy," Kendall told him. "You chose to keep me safe at the expense of putting your wife and daughter in danger."

"If you're saying..."

"You could have chosen to leave me to fend for myself, but you didn't," Kendall continued. "You chose this, Jeremy. And it sucks that both your options involve a serious risk, but that's the way it is. You have to live with that. And the longer you spend sulking about it, the less time you'll have to prepare in case something does happen."

"If Tracey had just stayed home, like she promised she would, this wouldn't be an issue," Jeremy muttered as he opened his beer. Kendall reached out, taking the can from him. He glared at his sister, "You really want to do that right now?"

"While I'd love to see what happens when you get drunk," Kendall rolled her eyes, "I prefer you sober, especially while I tell you this."

She flipped her tablet around, showing Jeremy the blueprint for what appeared to be a weapon and energy readings that he couldn't decipher. He shrugged his shoulders, so Kendall explained.

"While combining the power of the energems would be too much for any of the Rangers to handle, it's not an impossible feat. And with Sledge's do it or die approach to invading the planet, he'll have no reservations about arming one of his monsters with a weapon that could potentially kill it."

"So what are you saying?"

"The dark energem possesses the same power as all ten of our coloured energems," Kendall explained. "Which means Sledge could use it for a variety or purposes. From charging his ship and flying across the universe to building himself a weapon that could take out the better part of our solar system. Maybe even both."

"Oh. That's... bad."

"Very bad," Kendall nodded.

"And we can't do the same thing?"

"Potentially," Kendall nodded. "But the power required would be too much for any of us to handle, even morphed. If I were to make a simple miscalculation, or if I were to underestimate the power of the ten energems by the smallest amount, it would mean certain death for whoever was using the weapon. The risk is one I'm not willing to take. Sledge has no such reservations."

"Well is there anything you can do to even the odds, even just a little bit?"

"I've considered a do or die approach," Kendall said. "In the worst case scenario, losing a Ranger or two would be better than sacrificing the entire planet to Sledge. And some Rangers are more capable of absorbing the risk than others."

"Who?"

"My curiosity for strength peaked when we discovered the PlesioZord," Kendall stated. "It was our third Zord with a cockpit, and our second Zord capable of forming a Megazord entirely on its own. Since Ivan's powers differed slightly from the first five, I initially believed that was why he had his own Megazord. He would bring an all new set of powers. However, the powers of the purple energem are nearly identical to the powers of the first five we discovered. Yet, for some reason, the purple energem was bonded to a Zord which could also form an entire Megazord without the help of other Zords. This far surpasses the StegoZord, TriceraZord, Raptor-Zord and ParaZord's powers, as well at the T-Rex Zord, which does have a cockpit, but can't form a Megazord on its own."

"Uh... yeah."

"My research proved that some of the energems work better together than others. The first five we discovered have very similar energy readings – almost identical all things considered, with Tyler's containing the most power of all of them. Aqua and Graphite are similar to the first five as well, explaining why they too only have Zords, not Megazords. Red, Gold, Purple and Silver vary slightly in their strength, which is why a Zord with a cockpit was able to be created, and near-complete or complete Megazords are able to be created."

"So, in English?"

"Red, Gold, Purple or Silver have a slightly better chance or not being blown to pieces by a weapon containing the power of all ten energems. In a do or die situation, a weapon of mass destruction would go to them. I just have to choose who."

"I'll do it," Jeremy stated and Kendall laughed. "What? What's so funny?"

"You were _just_ complaining about the risk being a Ranger posed to your family. Now you're willing to choose almost certain death?"

"To keep them safe, I..."

"No," Kendall shook her head. "There is no way I'm letting you handle any suicidal weapon."

"Fine, then who do you hate more, Ivan or Tyler?" Jeremy asked and Kendall glared at him. He started to laugh, "What? You think I'm going to let you do it?"

"It's my weapon," Kendall nodded. Jeremy shook his head.

"Doesn't Tyler have the most armour of all of us?"

"If Tyler were to morph into Super Charge Mode, it would be even more lethal. Super Charge mode is powered from stored energy inside the Charger, meaning Tyler would have to survive the bite of all ten energems, plus the stored power of his own energem. His armour would do more harm than good."

"So Ivan's our only candidate then."

Kendall shook her head. Jeremy sighed, "Why not?"

"I can't ask Ivan to take that risk."

"Kendall..."

"It will be my weapon, my calculations, and my failure. If anyone should take the risk..."

"No."

"Jeremy, it's done," Kendall stated. "In a do or die, I'll be using the weapon."

"You can't have my energem, then."

"So you would rather let the whole planet be destroyed then let me try and stop the dark energem?" Kendall reasoned and her brother gave her a stare. He hated her logical mind right now. He hated that whenever she had a plan, it was justified in some way. He also hated that she was an emotional creature. It didn't appear that way on the surface. Her logical side was often more obvious. Jeremy knew that was the face Kendall wanted other people to see. However, she cared deeply for her work and for her friends. He knew that emotion had influenced her to take the risk herself.

"Why does it have to be you?" he asked, certain she had an answer for him ready, but he thought he would still give testing her logic a thought.

"Tyler's just been reunited with his father, and the risk is elevated due to the extra power stored in his upgraded suits. Without the upgrade, he's the most vulnerable of the four of us. He's not the most suitable candidate. You're a father. Your wife and daughter risked life and limb to be with you, and I don't want it to be their final days, weeks, or whatever with you. Especially for Anna. I grew up without a dad. It's painful."

"And Ivan?"

"I would not feel comfortable asking Ivan to take that risk."

"He's a Ranger too."

"And he's doing his part just by being a Ranger. He's already risking his life on the battle field."

"So are you."

"Yes, but with my weapon," Kendall said. "A weapon I designed and created myself. A weapon I'll know inside and out. I'll be fully and completely aware of the risks, with no misconceptions about my chances of survival. And any mistakes made that cause me serious harm or death will be of my own doing. No one will have to live with the guilt of handing me my death."

"So you're risking yourself so you don't have a guilty conscious?"

"And what's wrong with that?"

"Seems pretty self-serving to me," Jeremy shrugged and knew his argument was weak. Kendall simply gave him a look and he nodded his head and sighed, "I know, I know. I just don't want to..."

"Bury your sister," Kendall finished for him with a little smile. "If I have my way, you won't have to. I promise."

"Uh-huh."

"Jeremy..."

"I'm mad at you, you know," Jeremy said and pulled his sister into his arms. "You're way too damn smart for your own good."

"Hopefully I'm just smart enough," Kendall said.


End file.
